IPLOCA Novel Construction Fall Session Discusses Pipeline Innovation

Innovation

Novel Construction Fall Session

The Fall Novel Construction Meeting was held at the Holiday Inn – Westpark hotel in Munich, Germany, on Wednesday, 25 and Thursday, 26 October.

More than 75 delegates from across the world participated in the event. The week’s programme also included the HSE Workshop about improving corporate safety memory (see page 31). On Wednesday morning, presentations were made by IPLOCA (International Pipe Line and Offshore Contractors Association) members and guest speakers on their innovative developments and initiatives with the aim of improving pipeline design and construction. The following subjects were presented:

– Bending Machine Safe Hook Support – IPLOCA Health & Safety Award Winner 2023
Guido Soffiantini & Vincenzo Petrone, SICIM S.p.A

– Hydrogen Goes Publi
Josef Wittenzellner, MAX Streicher GmbH

– Near Surface Geophysics in Onshore Pipeline Design – Petrobras’ Experience
Ana Cecilia Soares, Petrobras

– Fast, Safe, and Low-Risk Construction of Internally Coated Pipelines*
Ryan Sears, Lined Pipe Systems

– Hyperloop Ambitions through the Mass Production of Large Diameter Hyperloop Tubes
Mehmet Orgen, Erciyas Steel Pipe

– Pipeline Monitoring using Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing – State of the Art and Basic Concepts
Cristian Grecco, Omnisens SA

– MONTIPower – Enviromentally Friendly Technologies for Surface Preparation*
Martin Durcik, MONTI Werkzeuge GmbH * Articles on these initiatives follow this report.

Copies of all the presentations are available at:
www.iploca.com/iploca-novel-construction-fall-session-2023.

On Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, group work sessions and presentations took place to review the existing and the new chapters that need to be completed, as well as additional subjects to be developed for “The Road to Success” app. We would like to thank all of those who participated in this Fall Meeting.

If you would like to take part in the Novel Construction Initiative, please contact the appropriate group leader or gregoire.demontmollin@iploca.com.

We look forward to our next session which is planned for 24 April 2024. The location and hotel are yet to be defined.

Fast, Safe, and Low-Risk Construction

of Internally Coated Pipelines

Ryan Sears, CEO, Lined Pipe Systems, U.S.A.

Imagine a pipeline project with dozens of 500+m pipe strings left alongside the trench, and tie-in crews more than 40km behind the mainline welding crew.

You might wonder why they don’t simply lower the strings into the trench, do the tie-ins, and bury the pipe? The reason is that workers still need to enter the strings and perform the painstakingly slow, error-prone, and dangerous process of manually coating the interior of each weld joint. This is the reality for several desalinated water pipelines being constructed right now. But other contractors have learned it doesn’t have to be this way. Lined Pipe Systems’ FlexSleeve® allows for standard, fast construction of internally coated pipelines and greatly reduces liabilities to schedule, joint quality, and safety.FlexSleeve® is a corrosion and heat resistant internal sleeve that prevents liquids from corroding the bare steel of the weld zone. It’s inserted into pipe ends during construction and it eliminates the need to abrasive blast, clean, coat, and inspect the interior of each joint. Once the welding is done, the joint interior is protected and ready to go

FlexSleeve® has also been tested for use with automatic welding using Qapqa’s external automatic welding system and a specialised internal lineup clamp. FlexSleeve serves as a backing ring and increases root pass speeds by more than 50% compared to welds without backing. No other construction method for internally coated pipelines comes close to matching the productivity levels of FlexSleeve®.Besides construction speed, FlexSleeve® eliminates significant quality risks. The process involved in achieving proper quality for a coating that will be subject to immersion at high pressure involves far more than many contractors realise.

Surface preparation includes grinding removal of irregular weld penetration, abrasive blasting, and cleanup of all dust for perfect cleanliness. The slightest speck of dust, sweat, etc. will usually lead to a coating failure down the line. Applying sufficient coating thickness is very challenging with a single coat. Paint curing times in widely varying steel temperatures often cause quality issues and delays. And all coatings must be inspected after the paint has cured. Compare that to FlexSleeve, where the coating is applied and 100% inspected in an environmentally-controlled shop setting.

Last but not least FlexSleeve® eliminates safety risks. Pipelines are a confined space and entry into long pipe strings for coating application presents serious safety hazards including toxic & flammable fumes, and difficult extraction of injured personnel – risks that can lead to fatalities if not managed properly.Internal weld sleeves have been successfully used in small diameter upstream oil & gas pipelines for more than 25 years in highly corrosive applications. The lightweight and flexible FlexSleeve® expands the use of internal weld sleeves to larger diameters with out-of-round pipe ends.

FlexSleeves have been used in pipelines transporting domestic water, produced water, and process water for the oil & gas and mining industries in North and South America. They are currently available in diameters up to 60” (DN1500), and larger diameter projects are being evaluated. Lined Pipe Systems is headquartered near Houston, Texas and has a manufacturing facility in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.